Cash-register



(No Model.)

ZZZ/676602 650 502 fifi mew Patented Jan 25,1898.

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A. O. HANSEN. CASH REGISTER.

Patented Jan 25,1898.

1 Mai: jfi wo 554M616 @;MM2@% UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ADOLPH O. HANSEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CASH-REGISTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 597,976, dated January25, 1898.

Application filed April 9, 1897. Serial No. 631,376. (No model.)

.To aZZ whom itmay concern.-

Be it known that I, ADOLPH O. HANSEN, of Chicago, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Cash-Registers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to cash indicators and registers of that classembracing a plurality of separately-movable price-tablets, a registeringdevice, and an operating-lever for actuating the same, which lever hasboth a vibratory movement and a bodily lateral movement, and in whichthe bodily movement serves to operate the registering device and to setthe lever in position to actuate either one of the tablets that it isdesired to bring into view, and its vibratory movement serves to actuatethe said tablets.

The invention consists in the matters hereinafter described, and pointedout in the appended claims.

In cash indicators and registers of the kind referred to as heretoforeconstructed the operating-lever has been arranged to vibrate in avertical plane and to be moved horizontally across the casing or housingof the indicator, which casing or housing is provided with a front wall,through which the operating-lever protrudes, and which is provided witha horizontal slot, through which the lever moves when shifted sidewise,and a plurality of vertical slots or notches, which communicate with thehorizontal slot and into which the lever is moved or carried whenvibrated to actuate the tablets, the said notches being arranged atdistances apart corresponding with the positions required for actuatingthe several tablets and being numbered or marked to indicate to theoperator the position at which the lever must be arrested in itsmovement in order to afford the desired registration or indication. Anapparatus possessing the features herein referred to is illustrated, forinstance, in prior Letters Patent granted to myself August 22, 1893, andnumbered 503,598. The employment for the purpose stated of numberednotches has been found objectionable from the fact that an operator whoattempts to operate the indicator hastily or who is careless in hismovements is very liable to carry the operating-lever too far in movingit along the horizontal slot and to thereby givean erroneous indicationor registration. Moreover, in such devices the le-- ver must in allcases be moved carefully up to a point opposite the slot marked with theprice it is desired to indicate or register, with a necessary loss oftime on the part of the operator in so doing. Where the slots are wideapart, this can be done with reasonable quickness and case; but wherethe slots are closer together, as in the case of those used to indicateor register amounts differing from each other by one unit or a few unitsonly, it is very difficult to quickly and certainly move the lever to apoint opposite the proper notch. Fur thermore, in cases in which thelateral movement of the lever is utilized to actuate a registeringdevice (as in the Letters Patent referred to) the lever must be moved inevery case up to the point at which the desired indication will be madeand not beyond it in order to register a sum corresponding with the oneindicated.

My present improvement concerns more particularly devices for insuringthe stoppage of the operating-lever at the proper point in its lateralmovement, and to this end a device embodying the same embraces generallya series of separate finger-actuated stops, either one of which may bethrown into position to engage the operating-lever in its lateralmovement and which may be employed to arrest the said lever at a pointfor indicating or registering any desired amount or price.

The invention may be more readily understood by reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a view in vertical sectionof the upper part of the casing of a register and recorder, showing theparts of the same more particularly relating to my improvement. Fig. 2is a detail plan view of the operatinglever, showing also the shaft onwhich it is mounted. Fig. 3 is a section of the lever,taken on line-3 3of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a fragmentary front elevation of themachine-casing, showing the parts constituting my invention. Fig. 5 is aview of the parts Within the casing as seen from the rear, this viewbeing taken on the section-line 5 5 of Fig. 1.

As shown in said drawings, A A indicate a plurality ofvertically-movable price-tablets, and A A a plurality ofvertically-arranged and vertically-sliding tablet-supporting rods.

0 indicates. a horizontally-arranged rockshaft, and D an operating-leverwhich is attached to a sleeve D, which turns with the rock-shaft andalso slides laterally thereon. Said lever D is provided with an arm Dwhich extends rearwardly from the sleeve D and is adapted to engage andactuate the slide-rods one at a time. The bodily movement of theoperating lever on the shaft serves to set the arm D for engagement witheither one of the slide-rods, according to the price to be indicated,while the vibratory movement of the said lever serves to raise said armD into contact with one of said rods and to lift the same and itsattached tablet. To said sleeve D is connected an arm G, to which issecured a cord or flexible connection G, through the medium of which aregistering or recording device is operated, said arm being attached,preferably, to a ring Giwhich fits within a groove in the said sleeve,whereby the sleeve mayturn in the ring when the operating-lever isvibrated without giving any corresponding movement to said armG.

E indicates the front wall of the housing or casing, the same beingprovided opposite or adjacent to the shaft Owith a horizontal slot F andwith a plurality of vertical slots or notches f f, which intersect thesaid main slot. The actuating-lever D projects forwardly or outwardlythrough the slot F and is adapted to enter either one of the notches fwhen vibrated downwardly forthe purpose of lifting one of the tablets.The parts shown are those which operate in indicating or registeringprices from one cent up to one dollar, it being the intent to provide aseparate actuating device and set of tablets to indicate dollars andmultiples thereof, as shown in my said prior patent. The notches f f maybe disposed at such distances apart as to indicate any number of centsless than one hundred, but the device shown is arranged to indicatecents to the number of five only and above that number to indicatemultiples of five, the notches ff for the cents being close together,while those indicating multiples of five being spaced much wider apart,as is necessary to operate a recording or registering mechanism whereinthe amount recorded or registered is determined by the extent to whichthe operatinglever is laterally moved. My invention is herein shown asarranged to act at the points indicated by the closel y-s paced or centnotches only, such notches being retained in connection with the novelarresting devices constituting my invention in order that the latter maybe used or not, according to the wishes or convenience of the operator.

The front-wall casing or housing above the rock-shaft is provided with apane of glass F,

through which the price-tablets may be seen when elevated. The rods A,which support the price-tablets, are arranged to slide in a guide-bar Aand said rods are provided at their lower ends with heads a, againstwhich the arm D of the actuating-lever acts in lifting the tablets. Thesaid arm is shown as made extensible and contractible and is held in itsextended position by a spring, while its free end is provided with anantifriction-roller d, adapted to act upon or bear against a verticalguide-plate A which is located behind and parallel with the rods A andwhich serve to give a vertical movement to the outer end of said arm Dand to thereby maintain it in position for engagement with the slide-rodwhen it is swung or moved upwardly and downwardly in actuating the same.Said arm D is shown as made of tubular form and is provided with asliding extension-rod D having at its end a head (1, which carries theroller d and is adapted for contact with the lower ends of theslide-rods. Within the tubular arm D is located a spring D which actsupon the inner end of the extension-rod in a direction to throw thelatter outwardly, and the said rod is provided with a stud or stop-pin(1 which slides in a slot 61 in the arm and by contact with the ends ofsaid slot serves to limit the outward movement of the extension-rod. Theextension-rod and its actuating-spring are so arranged that the roller(1 will be held in contact with the guide-plate A as the said arm isthrown upwardly for actuating the tablets, said rod sliding inwardly andoutwardlyin the tubular arm as the roller moves in a straight line alongthe vertical front face of the guide-plate. Said sleeve is shown asprovided at one side of the lever with a groove which is engaged by thering G which ring is made in two parts and loosely engages the sleeve,so that the latter may turn without the turning of the ring, said ringbeing provided with a forwardly-extending lug g, which projects into andslides in the slot F to hold the ring from turning with the sleeve. Thecord G, which, as before stated, extends to and operates a registeringdevice by which a record is made of the transactions indicated by theapparatus, is shown as extending horizontally from the arm G to aguide-roller g, Fig. 5.

In connection with the features of construction above described suitableauxiliary mechanisms will be provided for temporarily holding thetablets in their elevated position when lifted and for afterwardreleasing the same, together with devices necessary to constitute acomplete indicating and recording apparatus-such, for instance, as shownand described in said above-mentioned patent; but these featuresconstitute no part of the present invention and are not thereforeillustrated in the drawings.

Now referring to the parts relating more especially to the presentinvention, H H indicate a plurality (five are shown in the drawings) ofmovable stops which are adapted to be separately moved into and out ofthe path of the sleeve D or some other part moving with theoperating-lever D to stop said lever positively at varying distancesfrom its starting-point. Said stops, as shown, have the form of rodswhich are provided with buttons or keys H at their upper ends and areadapted to slide vertically in guide-apertures formed by a thickenedpart E of the casing-wall E, located above and adjacent to the shaft 0.Said stops are movable toward and from the rod and are held by apressure or friction device, so that they may be readily moved eitherinwardly or outwardly, but will remain in the position to which they areshifted unless pressure be applied for changing the position thereof.The friction device illustrated consists of a series of sliding plugs orblocks I, mounted in recesses in the part F and held in contact with theside faces of the stops by springs t', which are also located in saidrecesses and confined therein by removable plate t", secured to theinner face of the housing. Above and below said frictionblocks I arelocated upwardly and downwardly facing shoulders h h, which by contactwith the said friction-blocks serve to limit the movement of the stopsin either direction. In the construction illustrated, wherein the stopsH consist of round rods, the said shoulders are conveniently formed bycutting away the rods at one side of the same, so as to form fiat facesagainst which the friction-blocks bear and also to form said shoulders.The several details of construction described in the means forfrictionally holding the stops from movement and for limiting theirmovement are, however, merely herein shown as illustrating a simple andconvenient construction in the parts, and devices for producing the sameresults may be constructed in many other different forms.

The inner ends of the stops H are so disposed and arranged with respectto the sleeve D that when the stops are thrust inwardly they will extendinto the path of said sleeve, but when lifted or drawn outwardly theywill be free from or out of the path of said sleeve, the intent beingthat the actuating-lever should be arrested in its movement by contactof the sleeve with that one of the stops which shall have been thrustinto its path while other stops are out of the way of the sleeve,thereby insuring the arrest of the lever at a desired point withoutattention on the part of the operator in moving the lever, excepting tomove the same until arrested by the stop which has been previously movedor shifted by pressure of the finger thereon. The stops are shown asapplied to arrest the actuatinglever at points for operating the firstfive tablets of the series, which are marked to indicate one, two,three, four, and five cents, and for this purpose said stops will bespaced to correspond with the notches f hereinbefore referred to butpreferably such stops will be used in connection with at least the firstten tablets. As the stops will in practice need to be placed closetogether sufficient room may not be afforded in this arrangement for thekeys or finger-pieces at their upper ends, and to afford room for thesame the rods will usually be bent laterally or offset at their upperends, as clearly shown in Fig. i.

In order to insure the return of the stop to its original position afterithas been thrust inwardly and has served to arrest the actuating-leverat a desired point, I have provided means for automatically restoringsaid stops, the same consisting of a cam projection J, which is attachedto and moves with the sleeve D and is so located as to stand oppositethe inner end of the stop and at the time the sleeve rests in contactwith said stop. Said cam is so located on the sleeve that it will actupon the stop and thrust the latter outwardly as the lever is depressedor vibrated for lifting the tablet, and its outer part projects beyondthe surface of the sleeve, so as to certainly carry the stops far enoughto prevent possibility of contact of the sleeve therewith.

In the use of the stop mechanism described it is only necessary for theoperator to press his finger upon the stop corresponding with the amountto be indicated before moving the operating-lever, and the vibratorymovement of said lever required for lifting the tablet will restore thestop which has been moved and thereby leave the stop mechanism inreadiness for subsequent operation without any attention whatever on thepart of the operator. Vhile I have shown five only of such movablestops, yet it will of course be understood that the same may beincreased in number and may be applied to arrest the actuating-lever inposition for operating all orany desired portion of the tablets of themachine, as may be found convenient or desirable.

It will be obvious that the device described may be applied to anapparatus in which the lateral movement of the operating-lever operatesan indicating device alone or to one in which such lateral movementserves to actuate a registering device only, the general result obtainedbeing the same in both cases.

I claim as my invention 1. A cash indicator or register, comprising anoperating-lever having both a lateral bodily movement and a vibratorymovement, and a plurality of separately-movable stops adapted to arrestthe lateral movement of the lever at varying distances from itsstarting-point.

2. A cash indicator or register, comprising an operating-lever having alateral bodily movement and a vibratory movement, and a plurality ofseparately-movable stops adapted to arrest the lateral movement of thelever at varying distances from its starting-point, said stops beingprovided with spring-actuated pressure devices by which they arefrictionally held from movement.

ing the said stops after the same have been moved or shifted by hand.

4. A cash indicator or register, comprising an operating-lever havingboth a lateral bodily movement and a vibratory movement, a plurality ofseparately-movable stops adapted to arrest the lateral movement of thelever at varying distances from its starting-point, and I 5 a vibratingcam moved by the said lever and adapted to act on the said stops torestore the same after they have been moved by hand.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix mysignature, in presence 20 of two Witnesses, this 5th day of April, A. D.

ADOLPH O. HANSEN. Witnesses:

BERTHA A. PRICE, WILLIAM L. HALL.

